Daimler to hire 800 professionals in Indian R&D facility

Daimler AG, owner of renowned brands like Mercedes-Benz cars and Daimler Trucks, has announced its plans to hire 800 professionals in its new R&D facility in India.

Bangalore-based Mercedes-Benz Research & Development India (MBRDI), which is the automotive giant's biggest facility outside its headquarters in Germany, currently has 1,200 professionals. Of the total, 1,200, the Bangalore-based facility has a headcount of 1,060, while the Pune facility has 140.

The company said that the headcount would be increased to 2,000 in the next three years.

Revealing the plans, Daimler's Thomas Weber said, "We will grow the number to about 2,000 (from 1,200 now) by 2015."

Thomas Weber, a member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and the head of group research at Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, was speaking yesterday at the inaugurated the company's new R&D facility at Whitefield, Bangalore.

MBRDI, which has been operating since the year 1996, established a 20,000 square meter R&D centre in Bangalore's information technology (IT) hub of Whitefield. The new facility has a capacity to employ 1,800 people.

MBRDI has been involved in some of Daimler's revolutionary projects, including Human Body Modeling (HBM) System - a key feature of the company's vision of accident-free driving.